D&D 5E D&D's Classic Settings Are Not 'One Shots'

In an interview with ComicBook.com, WotC's Jeremy Crawford talked about the visits to Ravenloft, Eberron, Spelljammer, Dragonlance, and (the upcoming) Planescape we've seen over the last couple of years, and their intentions for the future.

He indicated that they plan to revisit some of these settings again in the future, noting that the setting books are among their most popular books.

We love [the campaign setting books], because they help highlight just how wonderfully rich D&D is. They highlight that D&D can be gothic horror. D&D can be fantasy in space. D&D can be trippy adventures in the afterlife, in terms of Planescape. D&D can be classic high fantasy, in the form of the Forgotten Realms. It can be sort of a steampunk-like fantasy, like in Eberron. We feel it's vital to visit these settings, to tell stories in them. And we look forward to returning to them. So we do not view these as one-shots.

- Jeremy Crawford​

The whole 'multiverse' concept that D&D is currently exploring plays into this, giving them opportunities to resist worlds.

When asked about the release schedule of these books, Crawford noted that the company plans its release schedule so that players get chance to play the material, not just read it, and they don't want to swamp people with too much content to use.

Our approach to how we design for the game and how we plan out the books for it is a play-first approach. At certain times in D&D's history, it's really been a read-first approach. Because we've had points in our history where we were producing so many books each year, there was no way anyone could play all of it. In some years it would be hard to play even a small percentage of the number of things that come out. Because we have a play-first approach, we want to make sure we're coming out with things at a pace where if you really wanted to, and even that would require a lot of weekends and evenings dedicated to D&D play, you could play a lot of it.

- Jeremy Crawford​

You can read more in the interview at ComicBook.com.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Had they made a lot of the radically overhauled Ravenloft domains into brand new domains (like Dementlieu), or at least acknowledged that they had once resembled the classic domains and had changed because of an in-universe reason (like Valachan), I suspect you'd have seen fewer upset fans. (Still would have been some upset, since some folks want zero change, but certainly less than we got.)

Make new domains! That’s all they needed to do. Why use existing names on things that are completely different? We simultaneously have people telling us no one cares about 2E Ravenloft yet apparently the names have so much cachet that they must be reused.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

But the most hilarious thing, what I will never get over is that 2E Domains of Dread is widely regarded as the apogee of the 2E setting except for one thing: No Azalin. That and the Grim Harvest storyline is really regarded as the most unpopular part of the metaplot, the disappearance of one of the most popular domain lords, the transformation of Darkon into the silly-named "Necropolis" and the various uninteresting "demilords". It was apparently always intended to be temporary, but WoTC canning the line led to being the final "official" TSR Ravenloft. (When Arthaus continued the line they continued the designers intentions of bringing back Azalin and Darkon and "completing the Grim Harvest plotline)

So what do we get in 5E's Ravenloft setting, a setting written with the idea of "previous canon doesn't matter"?

Oh yeah. No Azalin. He's gone.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Ravenloft was "retouched" because WotC wanted less limits for the players to add their own ideas, for example the new dark lords created by fandom themself.

There was nothing about Ravenloft even from its inception that stopped players adding their own ideas or their own darklords. That makes no sense.

Category:Darklord - Mistipedia

Falkovnia was rebooted because it was too grimdark. Gothic horror doesn't mean an eternal bloodbath. Maybe the original dark lord was killed because that type of tyrant earns easily too many enemies, among good and evil people.

Turning it into a realm of zombies is making it "less grimdark". Ok.

 

[Remathilis]

But the most hilarious thing, what I will never get over is that 2E Domains of Dread is widely regarded as the apogee of the 2E setting except for one thing: No Azalin. That and the Grim Harvest storyline is really regarded as the most unpopular part of the metaplot, the disappearance of one of the most popular domain lords, the transformation of Darkon into the silly-named "Necropolis" and the various uninteresting "demilords". It was apparently always intended to be temporary, but WoTC canning the line led to being the final "official" TSR Ravenloft. (When Arthaus continued the line they continued the designers intentions of bringing back Azalin and Darkon and "completing the Grim Harvest plotline)

So what do we get in 5E's Ravenloft setting, a setting written with the idea of "previous canon doesn't matter"?

Oh yeah. No Azalin. He's gone.

See this is why advancing the timeline is bad on any setting is bad.

People wanted a living setting. So when they did something bold, shocking, and daring, fans whined until the group of super fans that got the rights to it put it all back to the way it was. (I know, I was one of them in the day). The only reason Soth was kept out of Ravenloft was rights issues or he'd have been back in Sithicus too.

Meh. If every metaplot event is going to be undone or have zero impact on the setting, give me a static year like Eberron.

 

[Remathilis]

Make new domains! That’s all they needed to do. Why use existing names on things that are completely different? We simultaneously have people telling us no one cares about 2E Ravenloft yet apparently the names have so much cachet that they must be reused.

The issue would have been people whining that Dementieu, Lamordia, and Falkovnia were forgotten while the designers new domains of Alice, Bob, and Clyde were given space. Further, since those domains were part of the Core, they would have to have been touched upon. So we'd still have to deal with Lord Consent-Issues, Not-Frankenstein, and Vlad Hitler.

Besides, how many Frankenstein expy domains do we need?

 

[Micah Sweet]

See this is why advancing the timeline is bad on any setting is bad.

People wanted a living setting. So when they did something bold, shocking, and daring, fans whined until the group of super fans that got the rights to it put it all back to the way it was. (I know, I was one of them in the day). The only reason Soth was kept out of Ravenloft was rights issues or he'd have been back in Sithicus too.

Meh. If every metaplot event is going to be undone or have zero impact on the setting, give me a static year like Eberron.

Eberron's 5e book was made pre-Tasha's, before WotC changed their design direction. I dearly wish Ravenloft, Dragonlance, Spelljammer, Planescape, and/or Dark Sun had been released during  that era of 5e.

In any case, Eberron was designed from the ground up to be static in its timeline. Those other settings were not, and they need to be taken in that context or not taken at all.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The issue would have been people whining that Dementieu, Lamordia, and Falkovnia were forgotten while the designers new domains of Alice, Bob, and Clyde were given space. Further, since those domains were part of the Core, they would have to have been touched upon. So we'd still have to deal with Lord Consent-Issues, Not-Frankenstein, and Vlad Hitler.

Besides, how many Frankenstein expy domains do we need?

Better forgotten than mangled beyond recognition. Besides, you can make a map of the Core without talking about every piece of it.

 

[JEB]

The issue would have been people whining that Dementieu, Lamordia, and Falkovnia were forgotten while the designers new domains of Alice, Bob, and Clyde were given space.

Sure, but people will complain much more about existing things being rebooted, than they do about old things simply being left out. It's the direct replacement of the old version in favor of a new version that tends to bother such fans.

Besides, fans of Lamordia or whatever could simply assume such domains were out there in the Mists, in their classic form, if there wasn't a new version explicitly replacing it.

EDIT: Also, we have a concrete example of this phenomenon in 5E Dragonlance. Some things were changed and some formerly conspicuous elements were left out. Of what complaints there have been (much less overall than Ravenloft), it's the changes that attract the most attention, less so the omissions.

Further, since those domains were part of the Core, they would have to have been touched upon.

The Core was broken up in 5E, so that would have been a moot point. And even if they did have a Core in 5E, it would hardly be the first time it had been reshuffled.

 

[DavyGreenwind]

I think VRgtR is one of the best books 5e has ever put out. The stories and domains are interesting and flavorful, and the book is full of unique horror mechanics, genre tips, and cool monsters.

I read some of the original Ravenloft setting and, meh, I think 5e is about the same. Lore details don't matter that much to me when it comes to TTRPGs.

It is a bit funny (in an ironic way) that the primary complaint from fans of the original setting is that they hate that Ravenloft is trapped in an endlessly repeating, unchanging time loop.

 

[Remathilis]

Better forgotten than mangled beyond recognition. Besides, you can make a map of the Core without talking about every piece of it.

And people would have complained they ignored Core domains while giving valuable space to new domains that aren't even part of the Core.